SZ668

BY JIM DAWSON

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

PATRIOTS HAVE HEAVENLY WIN OVER SAINTS 36-20

Tom Brady (30 of 39) and his heavenly angels defrocked the Saints in front of 73,168 fans in New Orleans. And of those 9 incompletions, two were drops – by Burkhead and Gronk (in the end zone!). The duel with Drew Brees didn’t happen when the Patriots scored touchdowns on their first three possessions to go up 20-3 after the 1^st quarter.

That 17-point lead would hold up at the half as the Pats scored on two of their three 2^nd quarter possessions and led 30-13.

Only three wide receivers (Hogan, Cooks, and Dorsett) and TE Gronk? No problem. All of them helped (Hogan and Gronk with TDs), and RB James White led everyone with 8 catches for 85 yards. In all, 9 players caught passes as RB Burkhead also contributed with 3 for 41 yards and a TD.

The Pats also got 119 yards rushing as Mike Gillislee had 69 yards (18 carries). At first I didn’t like them running him wide right but then with good blocking, he was able to turn the corner. Gillislee also had a rushing TD. James Develin did his usual yeoman’s job of leading the way.

Brady, despite a strong pass rush, hung in and tossed 3 TDs, none prettier that the one he lofted flatfooted to Gronk who wasn’t going to be stopped by the two Saints who had a chance. Brady also was under pressure when he hit Burkhead for the 1^st TD of the game.

On the defensive side, the pass rush was decent at times, with Dietrich Wise Jr. and Trey Flowers causing the most havoc. The Patriots D did what KC did to them last week, rushing only 3 men at times (and still getting some push). Wise, Jr had the only sack but it took New Orleans out of FG range. At one point he had Brees around the leg but the QB was able to throw it away. In fact Wise, Jr. had an incredible 5 QB hits and 2 tackles for a loss. Trey Flowers and Van Noy each had a QB hit.

S Patrick Chung and LB Elandon Roberts led the way each having 7 tackles and an assist. Chung handled the punt returns and thankfully fair caught all of them.

The other defensive standout was cornerback Jonathan Jones who ripped the ball away from Saints receivers Brandon Coleman and Ted Ginn, Jr. who was in the end zone.

Josh McDaniels opened up his offense, running an end around three times (two by Cooks, one by Dorsett), and had Hogan in motion faking an end around a couple times.

POINTS AFTER

Tom Brady converted on 5 third down plays before missing. Brady also argued with the refs twice, once on Hogan’s TD (a pick is allowed if at the line of scrimmage), and after he threw a lob that was intercepted. Brady pointed out to the zebras that the Saints had 12 men on the field. No INT. Correct-a-mundo, Tom, both times.

DL Adam Butler started instead of Alan Branch who didn’t play well versus KC. But the reasoning might have been to offset the strong suit of the Saints – passing. Branch is a run stuffer (or was last year).

And the other Butler, Malcolm, lost playing time to CB Eric Rowe. Are the Pats preparing for playing without Butler next year? Butler was beaten for a TD on a pick play when the TE took him out.

Nate Solder gave up the sole Saints sack and missed a block on a run by Gillislee that went for a loss.

CBS should be chided for missing two kickoffs while at commercial break and starting an ad just before a Gillislee run. Meanwhile, analyst Tony Romo was very good.

Just before half, Tom Brady ran with 21 seconds left but came up short. The Pats then had to rush their FG team out with time running out. The fire drill worked as Gostkowski kicked a 28-yarder with 2 seconds left.

The one sore spot was injuries to Gronk (groin), Dorsett (knee) and Hogan who was limping around but caught the Saints’ onsides kick with 5:03 left and NO down 2 scores (16 points). Burkhead also had a rib injury. Malcolm Butler got to play more when 6’1” CB Eric Rowe suffered a knee injury. Hope these guys are fast healers. Houston is next.

E-MAIL

James, the singer in your music quiz is Don Williams. A great artist and song writer, who as you know, passed away earlier this year. RIP.

Mike Curtis

Right you are, Mike, it’s Don Williams who recently passed away at age 78. Great pipes.

On Emmylou Harris’ Duets CD, the two do a wonderful version of Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You. - Z

Congrats to the Cleveland Indians and their manager Terry "Tito" Francona - two class acts. (Wish we could get managers like that...) They almost broke the MLB record, and there are those of us who well know what that's like, eh Bills fans?

Buffalo Steve

Steve, yes it would be nice to have a manager who can manage like Tito. I was thinking of that during the 15 inning game vs TB when the Sox blew multiple chances to score. First and 3rd, Marrero up (hitting .222) and less than 2 outs. You have him bunt which he can do. Nope. Strike out. They won, but... - Z

BOSOX

Well I had to sit through another tense extra inning game as Boston went 15 with Tampa Bay. I had stayed up for the 19-inning win over Toronto which strangely was a ‘shorter’ game (in time) than the 15-inning one. Boston is now 13-3 in extra inning games. After taking two of three from Oakland and TB and holding a 3-game lead over the Yankees, they may look back on those two extra inning games as crucial. Baltimore is next.

BULLETS

• So we just learned that Mookie Betts has a right thumb contusion which he has had for awhile. Now we know why he was popping out so much recently. The Red Sox are getting like the Patriots in keeping such injuries quiet.

• The Farrell Factor – big John loves Brock Holt. With Pedey out, it’s been Holt at 2B most of the time. Holt is not the same player this year, hitting .175 . Farrell should use Marrero (great D in the 15-inning affair) or Tzu-Wei Lin (.273) more.

• Per the Globe’s Nick Cafardo (9/17), the Yankees are 2-5 against both Cleveland and Houston. Cafardo also said that it was a FitBit not an Apple Watch the Sox used to steal signs when playing the Yankees.

• Tonight is the first Bruins exhibition game and naturally it is versus Montreal. Let’s see how the Kiddie Korps do in their hockey baptisms.

• The James Dawson who is a running back for the Salve Regina Seahawks is no relation to this James Dawson. Salve’s Dawson has helped them to a 3-0 record.

• Boston’s A team Greenville won the Sally League (South Atlantic) championship. However both AA Portland (65-74) and AAA Pawtucket (67-75) ended up with similar losing records.

• Per the Globe’s Gary Washburn, the Celtics will enter training camp with possibly 11 new players. Washburn notes that the Green may have four new starters – Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown. Coach Stevens will be busy.

THE HOT CLUB

Dr. John mentioned that he had owned both an Acura Integra and an Acura RSX. I noted that my companion Victoria also owned an Integra and still has her RSX-S (6-speed). Dr. John said that if the Integra was a ‘poor man’s Porsche’ than the RSX was a ‘rich man’s Mustang’.

The Bear and I were discussing last week’s entry about Bill Russell winning 11 championships. Both the Bear and I were aware of one other athlete who won 11 championships. He wanted to bet me that a mutual friend of ours would know the answer. I declined since I’m sure that friend does indeed know who that other person is. Do you know?

A woman wore a T-shirt that said, ‘Coffee Gym Wine’.

Dr. John, who is a history buff, and I were talking about Civil War generals, some of whom were considered good tacticians and others not so much. Dr. John said that Napoleon Bonaparte is purported to have said that he’d rather have generals with luck than brains.

Making his Mark said that I should see the baseball movie Mr. 3000, which starred the late Bernie Mack. He liked the 2004 movie a lot.

LAST ISSUE’S QUIZ ANSWER

Last time I asked you to name the artist who formed the Pozo-Seco Singers and then went on his own to have 52 Top 40 country hits, 45 of which made the Top 10. And he’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Only my Air Force buddy Mike Curtis knew that it was Don Williams who died September 8. Per Wikipedia, Williams’ “smooth bass-baritone voice, soft tones, and imposing build earned him the nickname: "Gentle Giant" of country music." Williams had #1 country hits with I Wouldn’t Want to Live If You Didn’t Love Me and I Believe in You. Williams had small roles in the movies W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings and Smokey and the Bandit II.

THIS ISSUE’S QUIZ

This ’70’s rock band used ever changing personnel (all session players after 1975) yet had great success on a string of albums. The band is in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Even won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2000. Name the band.

Sportzine is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz